TWO writers will reveal how Cebu and the Cebuano experience have inspired their work when the first Cebu Literary Festival takes place this Friday, June 27.

The novelist, essayist and editor Cecilia Manguerra-Brainard will talk at 4:30 p.m. about her writing process and the part Cebu plays in it, before joining a moderated conversation at 5:30 p.m. with Linda Faigao-Hall and Lawrence Ypil on “Writing in Diaspora”. Jude Bacalso will moderate. Brainard is the author or editor of several books, including “When the Rainbow Goddess Wept”, “Magdalena” and “Out of Cebu: Essays and Personal Prose.”

Faigao-Hall will give the first presentation, “10 Things You Need to Know about Being a Cebuano Playwright in NYC”, in the festival that will start at 10:30 a.m. in the Ayala Cebu Activity Center. Faigao-Hall, daughter of the acclaimed Cebuano poet Cornelio Faigao, has written several plays. These and her other writings have since been gathered in her anthologies “The Female Heart and Other Plays”, “Woman from the Other Side of the World”, “God, Sex and Blue Water” and “State Without Grace”.

Organized by Little Boy Productions and the Cebuano Studies Center, the Cebu Literary Festival (#CebuLitFest on social media) will feature talks, conversations, exhibits, demonstrations and a music and poetry jam. Admission is free. The talks and conversations will explore topics like Palanca 101, How to Get Published and Storytelling Through Songs. Fans of the “Game of Thrones” series will get to see the sculpture “Children and Kings”, as well as hear from Mark Deutsch of Happy Garaje how stories have inspired his art.

For more information, look for The Cebu Literary Festival 2014 event page on Facebook.